Page 71 of Oath

The cuffs snapped open and my arms gave out. I would have fallen but Grace caught me, arms coming around me as she stepped off the chair and went down with me as I landed on my knees.

It wasn’t as hard of a crash landing as it could have been, but I was now bleeding all over her. “I’ve got you,” she said. “I’ve got you.”

“We need to go,” O’Rourke was suddenly next to us and even with my head swimming, I had a fist ready to strike. He narrowly avoided the blow. “Fine, fucking crawl then.”

He retreated once more, but I couldn’t follow his movements. Not when Grace was just there, cradling my face in her hands and keeping my gaze on her.

“I don’t get it,” I whispered, trying to focus. “How are you even?—?”

“Shh.” She ghosted a kiss to my lips, then looked me in the eye. That smile again. It was so damn sinful and filled with warmth. “You’re a mess. Probably have broken ribs, a concussion, and your wrists are a disaster. I can’t count the cuts and the burns…” Her voice darkened on the last. “But we have a plan. If you can walk, we’re leaving right now.”

“I might be hallucinating you,” I muttered. I didn’t want to know what the plan was if I couldn’t walk. O’Rourke was there, a blurry movement behind her.

She leaned closer, voice like velvet over razors.

“Then hallucinate faster. We have less than a minute before the guys set off the alarms.”

Hallucinate faster?

A rough laugh escaped me. “You make me crazy, Dollface,” I told her.

“I know,” she said, another whisper of a kiss as she rose, then she held out her hand to me. “That’s why you like me.”

Everything hurt.

Fucking. Everything.

But I clasped her hand and let her help me to my feet. I swayed, but she wrapped one of my arms over her bare shoulders. “God help me,” I said. “It is.”

Her laughter was a balm to soothe the raw wounds in my soul. “Don’t sound so mad about it.”

O’Rourke was in front of us and I curled my arm a little tighter over her shoulder to keep her with me. He had no business being here with her.

“Thirty seconds,” Alphabet warned. “You guys ready to go?”

“We are,” Grace said, tipping her head back as O’Rourke shook his head. He didn’t argue, however, just moved ahead of us. “Right, Captain Boney Boy?”

“Dollface, you remember what I said about spanking you?”

Her smile was sunshine. “Now now, don’t promise me a good time until you’re ready to deliver it.”

“Ten seconds,” Alphabet said.

“Let’s go,” she murmured. “One foot in front of the other.”

The floor was blessedly cold against the bottoms of my abused feet. Oh, I was bare foot. That barely even registered. Did I have on pants? Took a moment, but yes there they were.

I stumbled, but caught the rhythm. She was still in heels, I did not want to knock her off her feet.

“Five seconds.” The countdown galvanized me.

“How far?” I lifted my chin, tried to look ahead. An escape meant resistance. I had to be ready to handle…

“Three…”

“Oh, let’s talk about that later.”

“Two…”